Don't Eat The Apple
by savagecannon
Summary: It's a well known fact Angels and Demons exist in the world of Shadow Hunters, Hermione Granger knows this very well. But if there are Angels..surely there is a God? And if there are Demons...well surely there is a Devil too? Mortal Instruments/Harry Potter Cross Over. TR/HG. Tom Riddle/Hermione Granger. Tom/Hermione. Crossover.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note: Can you believe this? Three stories in one day. I'm on fire. I'm that good.**

 **WARNING: This is a cross over! It's an AU Cross over, if you're not into that sort of thing, Don't read it. You don't have to torture yourself.**

 **I love trying new things when it comes to Tomione and really, I'm kind of excited about this one because it's so different and I have the whole plot planned out and I just love the direction I'm taking it in.**

 **Okay so. Tom's character is a tad different, but I'm trying to keep some basic traits, anywhom. Reviews ARE SO WELCOME because if no one reads this or likes it, i'm not going to continue with it.**

 **As such.**

 **I do not own the rights to Harry Potter nor the Mortal Instruments. These are not my characters and I do not claim to own them or their copyrights in any way...and blah blah blah. All that legal mumbo-jumbo.**

 **If you do read and review, can you take a guess at where this might be going?**

 **Enjoy!**

The music in the club was loud and pounding. Hermione Granger was relaxing against the bar and her eyes were scanning the crowd of people with an obvious rapture. The people in the throng were…unique, even though that word seemed a little light for the type of people dancing in here. Specifically the boy that seemed to be donning full drag with what looked like a dead bird taped to his bright neon blue dress. His thick buckled purple boots with silver metal sparkles were shining in the rapidly blinking dark light.

The room was thick with fog, flashing lights, and gyrating bodies. Hermione caught looks with a pair of flashing emerald eyes from across the room, she smiled, nodding at her fellow hunter. Harry Potter leaned casually against a faux romesque column keeping his eyes peeled across the dance floor. The club, ironically called Fallen Star, was usually filled with loads Downworlders and the occasional demon. For a mundane, it would have been impossible to tell that this club was filled with anything that wasn't human, but for people like Hermione, her friend Harry, and their friend Ron, it was easy. Years of training had allowed the three of them to easily see past any glamour that the demons or downworlders had thrown over themselves.

The room was pulsating with a life that you wouldn't ever find in a normal Mundie club. The note they'd received earlier from Albus, one of the most well-known warlocks in the London area, had directed them towards this area for a meeting. She'd nearly lost her eyebrow raising it when she saw the location, what kind of well-respected warlock chooses this nappy location as a meeting place? There was no question as to whether it was real because it was a very well-known fact that Albus had a phoenix, a somewhat extinct creature, and it was the creature that had delivered the message.

She knew very well the message wasn't really meant for her or Ron, more for Harry. Harry, whose parents had died protecting the Shadow Hunter world against Grindlewald, one of the Great Demons. Harry Potter, who had been said to have been saved by the angel when killed by Grindlewald, leaving a lightening shaped scar. Harry Potter, whose legacy had raised him to be one of the best shadow hunters in the London area. It was a lucky pick that she and Ron had been chosen to reside and be trained in the London institute, amongst several others, and train alongside the boy who lived. It was even luckier that she and the two boys had grown so close and were often picked to go on riskier missions rather than the other students.

So when the message arrived that Dumbledore was requesting a secretive meeting regarding something big that was happening across the Downworlder scene and across the Demonsphere, they were quick to respond. Harry, however, made it very clear that because the note was mainly to him, he felt it better that he go in alone. Hermione, while Harry could be said to have been a better hunter physically than her, she was considerably smarter. She thought this was stupid but he was set and he usually got his way so she could do nothing but agree.

She watched quietly as two men dressed impeccably in two dark suits came up to Harry, nodding at him to follow and she kept her eyes narrowed as they did. They disappeared behind a pair of black velvet curtains and she turned back to catch eyes with Ron who was seated down at the other end of the bar where she sat. A rather upbeat song started playing and she found herself tapping her fingers to the beat watching the crowd's energy change their rhythm to the song. She found herself watching a couple that seemed to be completely lost in each other's gaze, so close to each other that she was surprised they were capable of breathing.

"What do you think?" Ron asked coming up next to her watching the couple with interest. "You want to try?"

"That? No thanks. Not wearing the right shoes." She stuck her foot out, her hunting boots glinting in the flashing lights. She never left the institute on a mission in anything other than her shadow hunting gear and that wasn't going to change tonight, though Harry and Ron had tried to tell her she should have dressed in club clothes in case they needed someone undercover.

"Wonder if that meeting had anything to do with all those missing downworlders that have been happening." Ron asked.

"I wouldn't doubt it, Dumbledore always seem to know what's going on, and it's pretty much his job though. He is the high warlock of London, but sometimes I feel like he knows a little too much and he enjoys playing that card a lot. I feel like he think it's a game to trail people along and make them figure it out themselves." She shrugged her shoulders but she wasn't lying.

Every time Dumbledore got involved with something they were doing, he always seemed to know the next step and he always liked trailing them along with the information he knew, forcing them to work at least three times harder for the information they would have in normal circumstances. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the man's help, but sometimes she felt like he were simply using the trio for his own good. Whatever he wanted to talk to Harry about, it wouldn't be the full story, no; it would be clips and pieces, riddles and words that would start them on the journey.

"Harry loves him, you shouldn't say that around him." Ron said in a voice that almost sounded parent-y.

"I know, but that doesn't mean I have to share his opinion of the man. We'd do better trying to find our answers ourselves than chase around some riddle." She suddenly found her eyes trailing another couple, but they were different. "Ron-"

"I see them."

The couple was strikingly beautiful, and when she said beautiful, she felt like she was almost attracted to the both of them. The boy had shortened golden hair spiked up messily to the side and his eyes were black, both of their eyes black with no white what so ever. The girl's hair was a deep cherry red than complimented the pale alabaster skin. She knew immediately that they were demons, their eyes the dead giveaways. That wasn't what caught their attention, it was the pace at which they were circling through the crowd moving from one end of the room to the next with an uncanny speed. Even more odd was the legs of the girl that seemed to take away from her unnatural beauty, because she had the legs of a horse.

"That is just…that's just weird." Ron said, his hand drifting unconsciously down to the seraph blade that was tucked into one of his many pants pockets.

"That's an Onoskelis, that's a rare demon." The girl and the boy had stopped and they were dancing incredibly close to another couple, in fact, now that she looked closer, too close.

"They're…are they drugging them?" Ron's hand moved farther down and was gripping the weapon in his pocket.

"Let's move." She moved her hand down the clipped thigh garter grabbing the seraph blade from it's case.

They moved around the crowd, the idea was always to try and corner them. They didn't have time to go and warn Harry because whatever the demons were doing, it wasn't legal and she was going to be very sure that they learned their lesson. The two demons were dancing closely together, but whatever had been in the needle that they'd slipped was taking effect. The couple next to which they were dancing had slowed down, their eyes shutting softly. She moved quicker, pulling her blade from her pocket.

" _Abiel."_ She felt the weapon in her hand surge with a warmth before it lit up, the blade lengthening in her hand.

"Any room for two more?" She asked coming up as Ron came behind the girl, his weapon held low in his hand.

"Shadow hunters…you don't belong here." The girl's voice was silky and it seemed to hiss out, her teeth were sharp points.

"Neither do you, but I'd be happy to give you a free ride to where you do belong." Ron smiled.

The boy demon moved but Ron was quicker, much quicker, His blade swiped up and the boys hand was gone quicker than it could move up. The boy's mouth snarled and his shaped changed before the blink of an eye, his skin becoming black and tar like and his shape moving to that of some oversized catfish with legs. She leaned back and swiped her sword at the horse like feet of the girl, but she was quick on her feet.

Their battle scene was not unseen, although the mundanes may not have been able to see what was happening, the others could. Several voices in the crowd shouted and they began to move quickly away from the fight. Hermione didn't mind, she much preferred the room they were giving. The girl landed but when she landed she had a weapon, a bright small silver dagger than glinted in the blinking lights.

Hermione smiled and beckoned at the girl while Ron was quickly making do with the boy. The girl snarled at Hermione and moved forward slashing at her but Hermione was faster and she rolled dropping low and swiped the blade up catching the foot of the girl. The girl shouted and her hoof fell to the floor followed by a thick yellow blood that caught Hermione on the side of her gear.

The girl tripped landing on her side and Hermione stepped up, kicking the dagger from her hand and placing a heavy foot on her chest and the heel of her boot on the demons hand with her seraph blade placed on the girls free arm. Ron had already taken care of and killed the boy, he walked over to check on the two mundanes that the demons had drugged. The crowd of mundanes had obviously noticed nothing worthwhile was happening and had moved back into place, dancing and crowding around them. The downworlders seemed to be following suit, ignoring the situation with the hope that they wouldn't be involved, though some stood off to the side watching with mild interest.

"Care to tell me what you were doing before I kill you?" Hermione asked pressing the knife a little bit deeper into the girls arm.

"Bigger business than you need to know." The girl snarled pushing at Hermione but she didn't budge. "Kill me, I won't tell you."

"No problem." Hermione raised the blade and slashed it down, decapitating the girl and removing her boot from it's chest. She turned around to face Ron and saw him prodding at the two mundanes. "Yeah, maybe if you poke them enough they'll come back."

"They're dead." She just realized the seriousness of the look on his face. "We'll have to report this to the clave."

"What the hell did they give them? Why would they give them something to kill them?" She walked up and bent down, reaching for a pulse. "We can test their blood back at the institute. Maybe we can find out what they gave them."

"What the hell happened out here?" Harry had come rushing out behind the velvet curtain and was looking at them with wild eyes. "Why didn't you come get me?"

"We didn't exactly have time to get you." Ron muttered, his ears burning a slight pink color.

"Why are there dead mundanes and a dead dem-"

"Two. Two dead demons, one of them already disappeared." Hermione stood up and pocketed her blade. She threw her phone to Ron, they needed to call the Clave before the crowd disturbed the bodies. "Found the two of them running around the dance club and saw them hit those two with the drug and then we ran over and they didn't want to play nice."

"What did they inject them with?" Harry was looking at the incision site on the necks, Hermione began to crouch down but a voice caught her attention.

"Shadow hunters," She stood up her, her body still on high alert and turned to face whoever spoke. "Always causing trouble aren't you?"

The man who spoke was ridiculous, but the good kind, the _very_ good kind. He wasn't so much a man but a young adult, a very attractive young adult. He had to have one of the smoothest, honey-like deep voices she'd ever heard, it raised all the hairs on her body giving her soft goosebumps. His hair was such a dark brown that it could have easily been mistaken for black. His eyes were a flashing dark blue that seemed to match his hair in the style of being incredibly dark, everything about him seemed dark. With the exception of his skin, which was a beautiful soft pale that seemed packed underneath the expensive and fashionable suit he wore. His face was had strikingly sharp cheek bones and he was tall, oh so tall.

"Who are you supposed to be?" She felt her hand twitching towards the blade she had pocketed, she didn't care how handsome he was you can't trust anyone.

"I'm the owner of this club, little shadow hunter." He raised an attractively arched eyebrow at her. "And this is my club so occasionally I do hang around and watch over things and when there is trouble I always seem to find you Nephilim in here don't I?" He came around to look at the bodies.

"Aren't you a little young to own a club like this?" Harry was speaking loud to be heard over the music.

The man seemed to have noticed so he waved his hands over in a 'follow me' motion and began to walk back past the curtains where Harry had just had his private audience with Dumbledore. He led them down a hallway that was lined with couples who were grouping each other in such a heavy manor that she felt the need to turn away. She had to grab Ron by his shoulder to stop him from ogling a girl whose dress had ridden up against the other girl she was grouping (though her skin was a dark green color). He led them to the end of the wall where two very large and muscular men stood before guarding what seemed like nothing before motioning his hands towards the blank wall in front of them.

"Follow me, please." He stepped casually through the wall leaving the rest of them to follow suit.

The two men stared down at them condescendingly as they walked into the wall. Something that might have surprised them or even shocked them many many years ago, it made no difference now. Nothing really surprised them anymore, she couldn't think of anything they hadn't seen in their training.

The room they entered was grand and eloquent. The ceiling was high with heavy black drapes framing the room and a large crystal chandelier hanging above them that was filled with melting black candles. It was rather macabre with metal runes decorating the walls around them and a very large thick red and gold Persian rug below their feet. Plush black leather couches were placed strategically around the room to give it a more homey appearance, or at least she assumed. Large candelabras floated around the room leading Hermione to believe that this man may be a warlock. Apparently Ron had come to the same conclusion.

"You're a warlock?" He was staring at the runes and the floating candles.

"Of sorts, yes." The smile on his face made Hermione shiver, there seemed to be a lot hiding under that answer.

"What's that supposed to mean then?" It was her turn to raise her eyebrow at him.

He turned and the look he gave her made something warm in the pits of her stomach, as if he were reading her just by simply looking at her. A slight smile was pulling at the corner of his lips and she felt like she desperately needed to look away but his gaze wouldn't let her.

"It means, Little Shadow Hunter, there is a time and place for all questions." He smiled smoothly and walked around to lean against his desk, motioning at the couches in front of him. "Sit, please."

"You still haven't told us who you are." Neither of them moved to take a seat and his smile remained still on his face, unmoving.

"My real name is not of importance. Your little shadow hunter here can call me Tom, you may call me Mr. Riddle. " His smile widened and he moved to seat himself on the couch that was next to Hermione. She felt her body tighten in response to his closeness, his fingers clenching and her body sparking at him being so close. It had to have been his magic, it was the energy from his magic. "Now, let's make the board even I'd like some names too, though I don't need your name. I saw that scar from a mile away, Harry Potter. However, I don't know you two, though I'd rather like too."

He looked towards Hermione at his last words, sending her a wink with a legendary smile that made her blush so deeply she had to look away to avoid further embarrassment with her stomach curling in on itself.

"Ron," Harry nodded at Ron who was going through no effort to hide the glare he was sending towards Tom. "Hermione, now we're even. Why did you call us back here? We left those mundane bodies out there, we need to get back. The clave will be here soon-"

"My men are keeping a watch over the bodies, don't you worry your pretty little shadow hunter heads," He patted the seat next to him again looking at Hermione.

She couldn't really describe what happened next, even thinking back on it later she couldn't really think of what happened. She just knew he looked at her and she felt something in her body, every molecule come alive and speak to her with an electricity and fever so powerful that she felt inclined to bend to it's every whim, to heed to it's every will. Tom's pupil's widened slightly and his smile became slightly more seductive.

"Sit, Hermione. Don't be shy." Hermione felt her body moving and her skin tingling and she listened to his words, her brain hazing over and spinning in circles. His smile was so warm and charming and being so close to him made her feel warm inside. She took her seat next to him and desperately tried to ignore the small voice in her head to wake up and breathe again but she couldn't peel her eyes away from his. "There, not so bad now is it?"

"No, not at all." Her voice sounded slightly distant.

"You'll stop whatever you're doing warlock, charming a Shadow Hunter is against the Clave Law and you know it." Harry's voice was angry and heavy.

"The Clave law doesn't affect me, Harry Potter." He pulled his eyes away from Hermione's to give Harry a knowing look. "Now, you're just too pretty to be a shadow hunter, surely there's some devil blood in there with that angel."

Hermione couldn't say exactly what it was about him but whatever it was, it was charming. There was this pull and she felt like she could listen to every word that came from his mouth, that he was the most interesting person on earth. His eyes sparkled at her and his smile was something that came from a modeling magazine, nobody could naturally be this handsome.

"Tom, may-"

"Mr. Riddle," Tom interjected Harry's words, flashing Hermione another smile before turning to look at Harry again, his face becoming that of all business. "I brought you back here for a reason and I'll get to it."

Tom stood up and walked past his desk to a table that held a very fancy eloquent bar with many different types of alcohol and what looked like several different colored potions. The bottles clinked as he reached forth to grab one and three cups.

"We can't drink-"

"Then accept it as a formality, it's impolite to decline a drink." Tom cut him off again, his voice taking on a quality of business. "While I appreciate you taking an interest in the demon culture that come through this club and taking care of the dangers that come along with demons; however, I don't appreciate you turning my club in a battle scene."

"We didn't really have much of a choice, now did we?" Ron's voice was sarcastic and Hermione sent him a glowering look.

Tom turned, a formal smile on his lips as he handed out three small glasses filled a finger's width with a honey colored liquid. He passed Ron and Harry their glasses with a courteous smile and then came to Hermione with a smile that could have charmed a mother to push her child off a cliff. He reached forward to give her the drink leaning forward, reaching and pushing his fingers against hers. She made to take a breath but nothing seemed to go into her lungs and the feeling that charged through her fingers plunged into her body and she couldn't move. His eyes flashed and he let go of her hand, her fingers shaking slightly holding the glass.

"This was something my men could have handled easily and you'll have to forgive me, I'm a little confused. If you don't mind me asking, why are you here tonight? You don't seem to be dressed for a night out." He looked the two boys up and down taking a sip from his glass.

"We had some business near-by, we happened upon the demon by accident." Harry's reply was quick and automatic; Hermione had to turn away to avoid looking annoyed the obviousness of his lie.

"Really? That's the lie you want to go with?" His eyebrow raised at Harry whose cheeks burned a soft pink color. "Perhaps your redheaded friend would like to try?" Tom turned to look at Ron.

"We-"

"We don't have to say anything. We came here on official Clave business and what happened is between us and the Clave. Are you going to tell us why you asked us back here or not?"

Hermione was trying her best to keep her lips pursed but it was becoming very difficult. It didn't really seem to matter what situation the three of them would be put in, Harry pushed himself up to be the leader. Not that he wasn't exactly in charge because during most missions it was him who was technically given the most power, but it got old…very old. Harry was arrogant and always seemed to think that it was of utmost importance that his two friends followed his lead and she found herself growing a little tired of it, especially at the moment.

"Mr. Potter, I've brought you back here out of the kindness of my heart, nothing more. However, you'll find my patience is thinning. Unlike whatever trail your old warlock friend has picked for you, I've got a little bit more honey for the beehive," He took another sip of his drink and set it down on his desk. "See, I've been following the Downworlders and their lot, their gossip. It's all rather interesting isn't it? Seems like they're losing a few members of the community every week doesn't it?"

"So what are you getting at?" Harry cockiness had jutted down a notch, his voice trying to hide the interest that had grown.

"Oh, caught your attention now have I?" He smirked. "The thing is, when you have the kind of power I have, you learn a lot Mr. Potter. There's something big happening and while right now the Clave doesn't have interest in the role it plays with the Downworlder's, I assure you it won't stay that way."

"What do you have against the Clave that you'd rather tell three underage shadow hunters than the Clave?" It was Hermione's turn to ask questions, her curiosity besting her.

He turned and gave her another word class smile, downing the rest of his drink.

"Let's just say the Clave and I are…polar opposites." The smile that piqued his face made Hermione shiver, her arms curling with goosebumps.

"So, what do you want us to do?" Harry leaned back against the wall, his arms crossing defensively.

"Why don't we make the playing field a little more even? Why don't you tell me what you know and I'll tell you what I know, and unlike your good friend you just met with, I'll be giving you a lot more than some pathetic dead-end riddle."

Hermione couldn't decide what seemed so different about the man in front of her. She knew that whatever he was, he wasn't human, there was no way in hell he could be. While she usually looked at Ron and thought that he was ludicrously tall, this man had at least a good three inches on Ron. He couldn't have been a demon because their sensors would have been going off the charts with his reading, because he had to powerful, whatever he was. A warlock seemed like a good enough answer but there was something nagging at the back of her head that told her that wasn't quite it, he was something much bigger, much more potent. The clothes he had on screamed that he was filthy rich, his suit some type of well-known designer in an inky black shade with blood red cuffs. He had to be older than he seemed for his hair was styled meticulously as though he'd walked out of an earlier decade, parted down the side and pushed into waves handsomely down the side of his head.

"The Clave approaches Potter, best make a decision soon." He tapped the silver Rolex on his wrist.

"Fine." Hermione felt a sense of relief, at least this time they had something bigger than some nonsense riddle. "All he said was that we'd find some interesting news about the missing Downworlders if we traveled down to where the fey liked to play."

Tom laughed aloud, throwing his head back in a dramatic fashion. Hermione caught sight of his teeth and found to her surprise that his teeth were slightly crooked, but pearly white. She'd imagined that nothing about him would be flawed, at least she knew he wasn't an angel.

"That sounds like Albus alright. You won't be getting anywhere with that any time soon will you?" He walked back over to his bar and refilled his glass. "But I'll tell you what, why don't I expand on that little piece for you."

He walked back over to the couch where Hermione was seated and sat down next to her, she forced her head down to look at the drink she held in her hand which had grown considerably wet and cold with condensation. She realized suddenly that her hand was shaking and she used her other to try and still it by holding her wrist but jumped with shock when his hand leaned over and held it for her, his thumb placing onto the small of her wrist as if to feel her jumping heartbeat.

"No need to be nervous, I don't bite." His fingers were warm against hers and while they did still the shaking, it was merely due to the fact that she was trying to control her breathing by taking deep inhalations to steady herself. "Now, I'm sure you three are somewhat familiar with the Shadow World?"

"Of course." Harry answered for them.

"There's a tavern there, a little place called Water Lily, very keen to the Faerie Folk. Faerie run and owned of course. There's a man there, a rather talkative informant I know of, names Ardal. If you happen to catch him after he's had a drink or two, preferably two, he can tell you a great deal about the happenings of the Shadow World and those who have been disappearing from it."

"Why can't you just tell us?" Ron interjected.

"I'm a little too high up on the food chain, you see. Bound by certain oaths, but you'll find I can be a great deal more helpful than your warlock friend." Tom's hand still lingered on Hermione's and she still found herself rather enraptured by the feeling and sensation his touch had on her.

"So, what happens if we require more of your…assistance?" Harry seemed to pause for a moment, searching for the appropriate word.

"Oh, I'm not that hard to find. I'm a very popular person you see," That smile again and she felt her breath catch, his finger must have sense the change in her pulse for his smile widened even more. "Of course, if all else fails, I can always be reached at this number."

He nodded to the two men standing on the sides of his desk and the bigger, bulkier one came forth holding a business card (which looked almost comical compared to the man's size) out for Harry. He grabbed it and raised an eyebrow but said nothing, just pocketed the card and nodded.

"Now, if you'll excuse me I do have a lot of work to be done and the Clave is making it's appearance and I'd rather like to be out of their way." He stood up and gestured for Harry and Ron to hand their glasses to the men and Hermione stood, following suit.

Harry and Ron walked out first, her awkwardly trailing behind unsure of how to process the events that had been laid before them, but was stilled by a hand on her shoulder.

"Miss Granger," She turned and found her pulse racing once again, he was rather close and unlike the heavy charming smile he'd laid upon them before, he'd replaced it with a rather small one that simply turned the corners of his cheeks showing off dimples that suited him rather nicely.

"How did you-"

"It's not important. However, I would like to be…more accessible to you than your male counterparts. This is my personal card, I'd appreciate it if you didn't share it with your friends. If you need anything, anything at all. Please, don't be afraid to contact me. Even if you don't, I'll be honored to hear from you at all, though I don't expect that you'll refuse. " She felt rather weak as she lifted her hand to accept the card he held out of her. The small smile on his lips made her chest burn and her stomach twist in on itself. She felt herself freeze when he leaned forward to whisper into her ear, her chest halting to a standstill and her hands gripping the card so tightly it was a wonder it didn't rip. "You'll find I can be rather…persuasive."

With that, a hand came out from the wall on the other side and grabbed her to pull her through. She jumped from the contact, her body shocking itself back into reality. The men who stood guard outside the door had small smirks on their faces and she found it a tad unsettling. Hermione glanced down at the card that he'd handed her and found her reaction the same as Harry's, raising an eyebrow at the odd thing. It was a thick white card, the edges of the card lined with what appeared to be shiny black snacks on the matte white card, glistening in the lights above. His full name was written in blood red cursive ink: _Tom Riddle._ Such an odd name, she thought but even weirder was the random apple with a single bite taken out of it between his name and the number he'd given her to reach him at.

She looked around and tucked the small card into her breast pocket before walking out to meet her friends and the Clave who had entered the club and had already taken custody of the bodies for now, only a few adults stood around talking to Harry and Ron where the bodies had once been.

"Ah, Miss Granger, we were waiting for you." Hermione smiled and nodded at the man who'd greeted her, Edmond Greenward, one of the overseers for the Clave's institutes in London. "We'll just need a statement and we can handle the rest from here."

Back at the institute, Hermione had realized how incredibly tired she was, waving the boys off and going up to the room that she, thankfully, had to herself. She peeled her shadow hunting gear off, tossing into her dirty clothes hamper and dressing into her nightclothes before remembering she'd left the card in her pocket. She turned the lights off and lit the small witch light that she had on her bed stand, examining the card and spinning it around in her hands.

She could hardly remember the time she'd met a man who seemed so utterly interesting. A part of her knew she probably shouldn't feel that way, it was incredibly looked down upon to be friends with a Downworlder (even though the Accords were supposed to keep them as equals) let alone experience the odd sensation she'd encountered when she met Tom Riddle. She racked her mind trying to place this man into the categories of Downworlders and demons she knew existed but she couldn't quite place him with anything. She knew for a fact that he wasn't a demon, though a few years back she could have sworn she'd heard a story about a boy who had been half demon. That all seemed rather unlikely too though, this man didn't feel…bad. She couldn't explain it and she wasn't sure she'd be able to unless he told her.

She continued to turn the card over and over in her finger, her mind on instant replay of the events in the room. She thought back to the moment where Harry had asked him why he couldn't just tell them, the same such oath existed for Shadow Hunters, to swear on the angel was an unbreakable vow. Maybe he'd done the same but again, she had a nagging feeling, a needle prick in the back of her head, that this probably wasn't the case.

Simplistically, if she really wanted, she was sure she could just call him and he'd probably meet with her and answer her questions but the thought of actually picking up the phone and calling some man whose being was unknown to her seemed kind of stupid…no very stupid, incredibly stupid. It didn't matter how stupid the idea seemed to her, she couldn't ignore the impulse the idea had created, spreading through her limbs almost like a poison, impossible to ignore.

She jumped when she looked down and saw that her free hand already had picked up her cell-phone from her bed stand… _when did I pick my phone up?_ She typed the number into her phone but forced herself to press the end call button. _I'm not calling some random club owner just because he seemed a little mysterious._ She put her phone back down and shut the witch light off, maybe if she went to sleep the urge would go away, she wouldn't want to talk to him anymore.

That wasn't the case, no that definitely was not the case. She found herself tossing and turning and when she finally cracked open an eye to look at the clock, she sighed loudly. It was two thirty in the morning, surely she hadn't been rolling around in bed for three hours already? Had time flown by that quickly? Was she honestly still up at this ungodly hour still thinking about calling this random guy?

 _Yes. Yes I am._

 _Wait._ What did she plan on doing after she called him? Did she think that he would just answer the phone and talk to her like some stupid teenage boy until the sun rose and then they would laugh realizing they'd spent all night talking? No, that seemed incredibly out of character for such a man. Was she going to sneak out like some bad high school girl going to meet her rock-star, bike riding, long-haired boyfriend? _That seems more logical than talking on the phone all night._

 _What's that sound?_ Hermione looked over and dropped the phone from her hand, a ringing sound coming from the line. _What the fuck? What the-_

"Calling so soon?" His voice was unmistakable and Hermione stared at the phone, her body buzzing with a scared shock. When had she picked up the phone and dialed the number? What was happening? "Cat got your tongue?"

"I didn't mean…I mean…I must've accidentally…" She was trying to find the words in her throat but her numb shock was still buzzing in her head.

"Are you sure?" His voice sounded confident and knowing and for some reason that picked at her. "You don't seem like the type to make many mistakes."

She had no interest in telling him he was correct. She wasn't about to tell him she was a know-it-all, but she had been told several times, possibly even a hundred times, that that's definitely what she was. She was easily the smartest Shadow Hunter in the institute, her grades in all her courses easily surpassing her friends and fellow hunters. It seemed rather egotistical to admit, but she was hardly the type to make a mistake, especially one such as dialing a number that she didn't even know and accidentally calling someone.

"Who are you?" The words slipped from her mouth as a whisper.

"Someone you'd very much like to know." She could hear that smile in his voice, the picture of it plaguing her head.

"Did you do something to me?" She felt silly asking, it sounded stupid coming out of her mouth.

"Nothing that you didn't truly want." His voice sounded even deeper over the phone, more smooth and she wanted to close her eyes and listen to him talk, but her mind was too awake, her body running ofd a livewire she couldn't shut off.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She played with his business card in her hand, twirling it in her fingers again.

"I never do anything to anyone that they don't want. I never make anyone say anything that they don't want to say…do you get where I'm going with this?" His tone came out clipped but amused.

"So you are a warlock?" She ran her fingers over the edge of the business card, her heart still hammering away inside her chest.

"Not really, a bit more…heady than that."

"Why won't you just tell me?" She was beginning to feel a tinge of annoyance.

"I think you'd rather like it better if you figured it out for yourself. We can make it our little game, I'm rather good at games."

"Will you tell me if I guess correctly?" She wished she didn't sound as attentive as she actually was.

"Oh, you'll know, I promise." His voice added emphasis to the words you'll know and she pressed the phone harder into her face.

"What are the terms to the game?"

"Tell you what," She heard a rustling and then he spoke again. "Why don't you meet me tomorrow night and we can go over the terms of our little game. I'd much rather discuss it in person."

"I don't know…"

"Oh you do," She could hear the smile, that wide, charming, all-knowing smile. "You knew before you even picked up the phone."


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note: So I appreciate the reviews and messages I have gotten from this story and to no extent thank those who took the time to write and send them. I appreciate it.**

 **Here's the second chapter just like I promised, again not as long as my usual chapters but I realized that my chapters were like unnaturally long and that was another one of the reasons they were taking so long to write and was making me lose effort in writing because I needed them to be so long and they didn't really need to be ten thousand characters long. But that's not to say I still won't write chapters that long because I GET CARRIED AWAY OH LAWD DO I.**

 **Anyway, lol. REVIEW please because I have to have more feedback if I want to continue this. Also read and review my new chapters for What They Don't Know and Private Intentions.**

 **I can't tell you how much I love this story's Tom, he my fav honestly.**

 **I have to stop talking because once I get started I never stop and this authors note will end up being longer than the damn story.**

 **Enjoy!**

Hermione never lied. It wasn't a statement, it wasn't some unknown knowledge, and it was a stone cold fact. Anyone who knew Hermione Granger knew three things, she could at times be a know-it-all, she followed rules to the T, and she never lied. It wasn't to say that she'd been with Ron and Harry when they told a lie in order to get something risky done on a mission, but Hermione would always be the first through the door back at the institute dying to tell the head of their institute, Minevra McGonagall, what had _really_ happened. She was the one who had to reel her friends in when they were on the brink of something stupid that might get them killed. She could literally think of hundreds of times where they'd been dispatched out to take care of some rogue demon and she saved their butts from one of Harry's poorly planned ideas (not that they were all poorly planned, Harry just had a tendency to be slightly irrational).

So when it came time for Hermione to leave the institute to meet with the mysterious Tom Riddle, she found herself in a state of sheer panic. There was no way in hell she would be allowed to leave the institute alone under the circumstances of meeting alone with a man from a strange downworlder club. It would look even more odd had she gone out in her full hunting gear just to get some food (which was the lie she had picked to tell, after going through what felt like a hundred different scenarios with their lying counterpart, this being the only one where she couldn't exactly find a hole). She knew she ought to just cancel the whole meeting, if this man was capable of making her officially lie for the first time to her friends, she wasn't sure she wanted much else to do with him.

However, here she was, standing in a nice worn pair of blue jeans and one of her nice but simple black and white polka dot blouses and a matte pair of black flats. Tom had told her to dress however but she thought it might still be rude to show up dressed in a sweatshirt and worn pair of tennis-shoes. She grabbed her purse, sneaking here stele into the pocket along with a sensor and a small extendable dagger (it's important to be prepared for anything), she made her way out of the institute. Her hands still shaking slightly from wringing them roughly from when she told McGonagall and her friends she wanted some air and was going to get some food.

Neither of her friends spared her a second glance, too enchanted in the chess game they were playing, waving a hand without looking at her saying good-bye. If anything, McGonagall just raised an eyebrow asking why she felt the need to tell her this information, it wasn't required for shadow hunters who were over the age of sixteen to ask permission to leave the institute for something so simple. Hermione had never heard of the restaurant Tom had told her to meet him at and she doubted such a restaurant, a place called Blood Catchers Diner, would be on her phone's GPS. She knew the street and recalled walking past it several times but couldn't exactly remember a sign or anything about this particular restaurant. None the matter, she made her way towards the street, keeping her eye out for danger all around. She had more of chance being killed on her way to the restaurant than she did on a mission with her friends.

It took about ten minutes before she reached the street where the restaurant was supposedly located but she didn't see any signs or anything, but she didn't have too. Tom Riddle stood leaning casually against the brick wall of a dingy fortune teller's shop, a cigarette placed softly between his lips. His cheeks hallowed in as he inhaled a hefty breath of it, his eyes closing softly and she thought he looked rather dreamy, like some sort of high fashion magazine photo, no matter the fact of his atrocious habit. Suddenly, as if he sensed her presence his eyes shot open turning to look at her, that charming smile slowly appearing.

"Those will kill you, you know." She took a deep breath walking up to him, speaking like the know-it-all she was.

" _Fear Not Death For The Sooner We Die, The Longer We Shall Be Immortal."_ Tom quoted, taking another long swig of his cigarette before flicking it to the curb.

"Benjamin Franklin? Who knows a quote like that off the top of their head?" She narrowed her eyes at him as she came up to his side.

"People like you, obviously." He looked at her outfit. "Much better than the hunting gear."

He was dressed closely to how he'd been the other night, a casual black suit with a white button up, his jacket hanging open. Hermione was staring him down when she noticed that he wore a ring on his finger. _Is that…is that a goat's head over a pentagram…what the hell is that?_

"That's a rather odd piece of jewelry." She nodded down at the ring to which he responded with another smile.

"It's a family heirloom of sorts, come let's get inside, we have much talking to do." He gestured ahead to the alley which lay between the shop he had stood against and the building next to it.

"You expect me to just walk down a dark alley with a man I just met yesterday?" She cocked an eyebrow at him.

"I'll go first then." He shrugged before walking down the alley.

Hermione stood and watched as he walked down the alley a good twenty or so feet before coming to a very large metal closure in the ground. He knelt before it waving his hand at it before it swung open revealing what looked like a stone staircase down into the ground.

"Are you coming or not? You'll probably get killed standing out here, it's not a very safe part of town." He waited at the entrance, his hand holding the grate open.

She bit her lip and felt that familiar sensation again, her body tingling softly and her mind going fuzzy. Hermione began walking towards him, a warm feeling spreading in her stomach branching out to spread across her body as she walked towards the entrance, taking Tom's elbow to journey down the stairs.

The restaurant, if that's what you wanted to call it, was dark and moody. It was full of people, except that they weren't people at all, vampires, faeries, a girl who had rather large gills running down her neck with little bubbled of water placed over them, and many other types. The room was lit with dark green and blue lights, swirling around while thumping soft rave music played. Tables lined the edges of the room and a very small dancefloor sat in the middle where people had grouped together to dance.

"You call this a restaurant?" She shook her head, the music and lights snapping her from her gaze. "You tricked me again."

"Ah-ah-ah, not a trick." He grabbed her wrists and she couldn't help but notice how warm his skin was. "We've got a private room."

He led her back around the crowd which showed the dancefloor to be much lengthier than she had thought, a large black light lit bar lining the wall. Tom came to a wall which held several doors covered with beaded curtains, pushing open the door that was painted with a pair of angel wings that were dripping with black paint. The room itself was rather pleasant, an elegant square table with polished legs and a soft black tablecloth. The middle of the table held a very ornate candelabra with melting red candles. The floor a plush thick red shag, there was no windows however, instead the room was draped in alternating red and black velvet drapes.

"You certainly have a taste in room, don't you?" She asked, walking up to her chair.

"Allow me," He pulled her chair out for her and she sat down sliding into the table. "I just prefer the color red, that's all, but black is also very choice."

"Is there anything about you that's light?" She raised an eyebrow as he sat across from her pulling his napkin out to lay on his lap.

"My past, very light indeed." He looked as though he had a very laughable inside joke.

"So how does this work?"

"It works really well with wine, do you prefer red or white?" He picked up the menu glancing at it casually.

"I don't drink." Her voice was flat.

"Of course you don't, now red or white?" He looked up at her over his menu.

"Red, I suppose." She found that her voice had a rather impatient edge to it.

"Perfect, my favorite." His smile was sharp and he slapped his menu shut turning to look at the wine glass next to his plate.

She watched in fascination as the glass next to her plate began to fill itself with a dark red liquid that came from what looked to be an invisible wine bottle, splashing up until it filled halfway then disappeared. She swallowed, her throat becoming unexpectedly dry but resisted. If she drank and he decided to kill her or decided that she wasn't of use, being drunk wasn't the choice way she wanted to go down fighting. He sipped at his glass giving her a small smile.

"So Hermione, tell me about yourself." He leaned back in the chair his glass clasped in his fingers.

"I'm a shadow hunter, there isn't much to know. You seem to know a lot so I can assume you know what a shadow hunter is and how they're raised." His eyes were enthralling to look at, they seemed to move all in themselves. The dark blue twirling around with specs of black as if they were actually a separate entity, alive in themselves.

"That doesn't always mean they all live the same lives, surely you don't mean to tell me that you all are mindless zombies, walking around killing demons thinking the same things? Eat, sleep, kill?" That charming all-knowing smile never seemed to live his lips, sticking to the corners as if he were always smiling.

"I simply meant there isn't much too me, I don't live a very exciting life, it doesn't change very much." She shrugged though she was fibbing to an extent.

Every mission was different and she loved it. She loved the second the speaker in their rooms would call them out, alerting them to a mission. She loved how it felt when she had to put on her uniform and how well the material seemed to fit, as if it had been magically made to fit her as a second skin. She loved how her stele felt when it was marking into her skin, burning slightly at first and then edging away to form a beautiful tingling masterpiece of intricate runes. She couldn't think of anything she would have rather done in life than to be a shadow hunter and she found herself oddly grateful that she got for the chance to do it, waking every morning with a thick sense of pride knowing she was doing the angel's work.

"Pride is a sin, you know?" He raised an eyebrow. His words shocked Hermione, _oh good, you can read minds too?_

"Reading minds?" She unclenched her fingers, realizing she'd had them curled into fists since she'd sat down.

"No, I just know pride when I see it. So, besides killing demons what do you do for fun?" He changed the subject, picking up his menu again to glance over it.

Hermione knew she'd been hungry when she'd left the Institute, but she didn't feel hungry at all anymore. She realized she was feeling a tad sick to her stomach and if she was able to look inside herself, she would have seen that her stomach and its fellow organs were twisted up into each other. She knew though that it would be impolite to be invited to dinner and not even glance at the menu. It was small and everything was written in what looked like thick red blood, the cursive miniscule and formal. Hermione had to imagine that whatever they were going to eat was expensive because there were no prices next to food listed on the menu.

"I read."

"That's all? Surely you aren't that boring." He put his menu down and moments later a beautifully arranged dish of food appeared on it.

"I spend a lot of my time with my friends, I read, I study a lot. I like to go the museums around London and I enjoy traveling though I don't get a chance to do it very often. There, are you pleased?"

"Where's your favorite place to travel?" A small look of curious amusement was on his face.

She fiddled her fingers, twisting the ring on her pinky that her parents had given her when she turned sixteen. The ring was small and intricate, a vine looking metal with small sapphires woven throughout the shiny metal. She glanced down at the ring and then nervously back up at Tom who had begun to cut into the food on his plate, his movements oddly graceful for his age. The lights in the room flickered creating shadows and for the quickest moment she could have sworn that the shadow dancing behind him looked almost like wings. Her eyes blinked rapidly at the wall and it was gone, as if it had never been there.

"I love Paris, but Prague definitely rivals." She glanced down at her plate and found that it had filled itself with some sort of pasta topped with a delicious smelling fish of some sort. She grabbed her fork, poking around at it not wanting to be rude. "What about you, what are some things you like to do?"

"You'll have plenty of time to learn things about me, tonight is about you." He leaned forward to take another sip of his wine.

"I thought tonight was to discuss the terms and conditions of a game of sorts?" She placed a bite of the food in her mouth and had to keep herself from rolling her eyes back, whatever the hell it was, it was _delicious._

"Oh, it is. But of course I wasn't going to spend our first date going over the rules of a game, how boring." He rolled his eyes. "I'd like to get to know you before we have all our fun."

"Who's to say I even want to play?" She couldn't help herself, taking another bite of her food.

"Well then you wouldn't have shown up now, would you?" She looked over to her glass and relieved to see that it had at some point changed to water and she helped herself to a tentative sip.

"So do you really think your identity is important enough to the point of revolving an entire game around guessing who you might be?"

"Well, I don't like to sound conceited, though I am very much so, you'll come to realize I'm quite an important person Hermione." If anything it was that damn smile, that stupid " _I know something you don't know"_ smile. It was driving her crazy and it probably had something to do with her insatiable need for knowledge of everything and she had a feeling he knew it.

"So what else do you want to know about me then?" She pursed her lips pushing around the remaining flood on her plate with her fork.

"So being a shadow hunter, you must be very religious?" His tone had become seemingly formal and his look changed to match.

"Not so much so…" Her voice went rather high, her cheeks pinking from embarrassment.

Many of the shadow hunters she knew were quite religious, believing Heaven and Hell to the extent that they attended church regularly. Ron's family happened to be quite devout, his mother insisting on the family meeting at church every Sunday and meeting at her house for lunch afterwards, it was a family tradition that her and Harry had been sucked into. Hermione found the bible fascinating and had read it once and constantly found herself peaking back through the pages at it, rereading stories and the words of encouragement all throughout it. However, it all seemed to be a little much for her. Surely if any God existed, he would be as merciful as he were spoken to be in the bible.

Obviously something was real or else her people, these powers, this magic that existed, wouldn't be here, but for some an omnipotent being to exist, surely there would be…more? She realized she'd gone very silent and Tom was studying her as she thought about her answer. It wasn't something Hermione enjoyed talking about because usually the adults that brought this up, well their responses tended to be rather harsh when they heard of her disbelief.

"You don't believe? Surely the things you've seen would lead you to believe in something?"

"Some of the things I've seen in this world have led me to believe that if God did exist, there might be more…" She trailed off, to use the word proof seemed a tad stupid.

"You're looking for proof?"

"Maybe not proof, just something. Something that isn't there, maybe compassion. What about you? You sound like a believer."

"Well I'm not very religious myself, I'm a very devout believer if that makes any sense." His smile reappeared. "If angels and demons exist, surely there would be a Heaven and Hell to create them?"

"And maybe there is, but that doesn't mean that there is someone up there watching over them. How well do you know the bible?" She looked down and saw her food had disappeared.

"Very, very well actually, and you?"

"I've been through it more than once and I just have trouble believing that the God they describe in the book can actually exist in a place like this?" She moved her hands around the room dramatically.

"Think of it this way. You have a book but a book is only written from one perspective, in this case, several perspectives. Now if you had gone back into time and you had asked every single man, woman, and child alive to write their own perspective of the bible do you believe it would have turned out the way it did? Of course not, what of all the Hebrew slaves? What of Cain's brother Abel? What of all the harlots or the disease infested? Had they of been included do you think the bible would have painted such a pretty picture of our all loving savior?" His voice was smooth and captivating, that of a perfect orator and she found herself listening to every word, wanting to hear everything he said.

Her silence must have been answer enough because he gave her a small smile, continuing on.

"God can only do so much, Hermione. His job is to watch over and tend to those who give and dedicate their lives to him and to give the sinners their just dues. Human kind is not perfect and their lives weren't mean to be so. Surely you know the story of Adam and Eve?

 _"And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever,"_

"Eve brought forth sin unto human kind and therefore took away any chance to live a sin-free life. Therefore God must punish and let their ancestors live accordingly. Do you know the current population of this earth? Seven billion people. Do you know how many of them are God fearing folk? Eighty four percent of people believe in some type of divine being, that's nearly six billion people. That means that every second of every hour roughly half that number are praying, speaking, or praising our heavenly father. Do you think, that even someone as strong and supreme as God could answer and care for every single one at once? Do you think that seeing all he has seen, the filth, the sins, and the unimaginable horror that takes place on this planet every day, do you think he ought to stop it all?"

She sat there speechless her mouth hanging open staring at him as he spoke, this aura seeming to come up around him as he spoke. This type of power that seemed to draw her in leaving her unable to listen to anything around her but his voice, to hear every single enchanting word that left his lips. She realized that while he'd been speaking she leaned up far against the table, drawn in by his words as he spoke. While is tone had started as formal, it ended as though he were defending God, speaking on his behalf and it became almost defensive.

"No, no one ever quite thinks of it like that do they?" He smiled, his demeanor changing suddenly and his tone becoming less serious and once again charming.

"You might convince me to believe after all." She realized suddenly that the room had become very hot and she reached for her glass, taking a large sip of the cool water.

"Why don't we change subjects? You wanted to know about our little game then?" She blinked at him, a little surprised that he was able to change subjects so rapidly when their previous subject had hit him so strongly.

"What of it then, how do I play?" She wasn't going to deny that she wanted to play. She lived for things like games and danger so why not this?

"While I myself love to bend the rules and find a good loophole now and then, this isn't the type of game where I'll be able to find any unfortunately." He lifted his finger over his empty wine glass and it refilled itself. "As a shadow hunter is bound by their oath of the angel, I am bound by similar rules."

"Someone as powerful as yourself?" She knew her tone was coming out in a joking manner but she had a hard time believing that anyone with as much power as he made himself sound to have had to follow rules.

"Regrettably, with great power comes great responsibility. As such, our game follows a very strict set of rules. I can of course allow you to see…certain things. Allow you some…rather daunting clues but nothing too straightforward." He spoke as if he were going over a business document. "However, for us to play such a game, you'll be unfortunately requested to follow the same silence."

"You mean, if I guess correctly I can't tell anyone? I can't tell anyone about any of this?" She felt hesitance running through her veins.

"Of course you're more than welcome to share with anyone you like of our time together, just not the information I share or the information you learn. Do you understand?" He clasped his hands together on the table.

"You want me to swear on the angel that I won't tell anyone anything you tell me?" She sat back in her chair.

"No, you see. Swearing on the angel won't exactly work in this case, I'm a man of paper, and you could say I'm old fashioned. I'll expect you to sign a contract?"

"A contract? What like if I say something I have to give you my soul?" She laughed aloud unable to help herself.

"Something like that." He smiled mischievously.

"You can't honestly expect me to sign such a document? Do I get to read what I'm signing?" She shook her head disbelieving.

"Oh, there won't be much to read. It'll just say what we just went over. You're more than welcome to read it, it'll be short and sweet and to the point. No hidden fine points or anything like that." He reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and pulled out a single scroll of parchment paper and a fancy gold lined calligraphy business pen. "Go ahead then."

She stared at his hand and grabbed the paper to read over its fine print but he was right, there was only a simple paragraph on the paper and it was straight forward and very straightforward. The paper had two small lines at the bottom where one had already been signed in a very fancy old-fashioned cursive script with Tom's signature which looked as though he'd been practicing writing it for a long time. Another empty line below his where her name was printed next too, the empty line awaiting her signature.

 _I, Hermione Granger, do swear that any such information shared on any basis with Tom Riddle, will be kept between the two named parties. Ay information shared between the two named parties shall therefore be assumed classified and any sharing of said information will be a direct breach of contract and will be met with the direct termination of contract as well as punishment fitting of the breach of contract. Unless given permission or direction to do otherwise, no information pertinent to the "game" or its two parties shall be shared._

"So if my friends were to ask what I did tonight, I could tell them we ate dinner together…but…" She trailed off allowing him to finish her sentence.

"You wouldn't be able to tell them about anything we spoke about." He pushed the pen towards her and smiled. "It's all up to you, I won't force you to sign it and of course signing it doesn't mean you have to play, it just gives me my privacy."

"What is the punishment?" She glanced down at the paper.

"A loss of memory. Nothing that will have happened to you since last night will be remembered, not even a meal."

She opened her mouth and closed it, which seemed like a very hefty price for his privacy. She tapped her fingers on the table rereading the paper and while her smarts very usually told her this type of thing was very stupid and this was normally the type of thing she was always trying to talk her friends into not doing, everything inside of her wanted her to sign this paper. She knew she could keep a promise and the rather punishment that would be laying on her shoulders would definitely be enough to keep her mouth shut, but it was a hard decision.

"What if I don't want to sign the paper?" She felt her fingers inching toward the pen anyways.

"Then I've got nothing left to talk to you about, as much as I enjoyed your company." He shrugged reaching forward for the paper but she slapped her hand down on it and he smiled.

She remained silent for another minute, her mind quickly trying to mule over what she was about to do but she knew she'd already made her decision and it felt really as though she were simply trying to delay what she really wanted. She took a deep breath and grabbed the pen, holding the paper and signing away what felt like her life for some reason.

"Now what?" She handed him the pen, feeling like something very spectacular should have happened, maybe a shining light of the shedding of blood onto the paper to truly bring meaning to what she'd just signed but nothing happened as he rolled the paper back up and placed it into his pocket.

"Now we begin." He stood up, reaching out his hand for Hermione's who narrowed her gaze at his hand but allowed herself to take it and be guided around the table.

She realized that a couch was pushed up against the side of the wall, one reminiscent of the couch she'd sat on when she first met Tom and he led her to sit down on it, coming to sit next to her. She seemed to have trouble remembering if the couch had been in the room when she first walked in and she didn't think it had and realized that Tom may be quite a bit more powerful than she originally thought he was.

"So what can I ask?" She leaned back against the arm of the couch trying to put some space between her and Tom.

"Oh, you can ask anything you want but that doesn't mean I can answer it all. Like I said, there's only so much I can give and show but I never said anything about making it easy." She saw from the corner of her vision that his hand was itching closely towards her thigh and she felt her body tensing.

"If this is a game, don't you want to win?" She felt her fingers curling into the side of the couch grasping it as his fingers brushed her leg and the heat was scorching and she felt frozen in place.

"You misunderstand the point of the game. I want you to know. I'm very much ready to share my secret with someone."

"Why me?" She realized that her heart was thudding so heavily in her chest it almost hurt as his fingers finally clasped onto her leg.

"Why not?" His fingers grasped her leg and she had to take a thick intake of breath to keep her body from reacting, unable to think of a time when her body had reacted so shamelessly.

She looked down at his hand and stared at the perfectly pale skin against her jeans staring at the obnoxious ring on his finger and found that she realized the symbol of the ring.

"So you believe in Satan as well?" She didn't remove her vision from the ring on his finger but his reaction was evident through the way his hand tightened unexpectedly on her thigh and it caused her to look up and his smile was almost scary, his perfectly white crooked teeth shining at her.

"Surely if one exists, so does the other." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"So why the ring then? Why memorabilia to Hell rather than Heaven?" She found herself unconsciously reaching forward to touch the ring and jumped when an electrical shock pricked at her fingers from touching it.

"I guess I just have a bit more interest in one than I do the other." The smile remained on his lips and she felt a shiver run down her back.

She pulled her hand away, slightly shocked that she'd been so forth coming in reaching forward and placed her hand back next to her leg. Though Tom's hand remained squarely on her leg and she found that she was still breathing in rather shallow soft breaths.

"So what happens after I guess? Can you just tell me…everything?" She looked around and regretted that her glass of water was still on the table because her mouth had becoming unbearably dry.

"Not exactly. Some things are better left unsaid in my case. Some things simply meant to be left unknown except to those who need to know." His eyebrows furrowed slightly and took on a rather dark look before smiling again. "How's about this, I send you home with a little hint?"

He stood up, his hand sliding off her leg and reaching forward again to gather her hand. He didn't speak much as they left the room, the club they walked through having gained some more patrons and some looked as they passed. Hermione prayed to God (she was pretty sure she was going to be doing that more often) that no one in here would recognize her and say something to someone at the institute.

They reached the outside and she took a breath of the fresh cold air, thankful to be out of the enclosed room that she'd been locked in with him, glancing down at her watch surprised. She didn't realized she'd been gone so long, it'd been over two hours and she didn't really have an excuse to use for why she'd been gone so long when all she'd done was gone to get food. She pulled her cell-phone from her purse and saw she had several missed calls from Harry and Ron and a few texts demanding to know where she'd gone and if she was dead.

"So what's the hint then?" She put her phone back in her bag and turned to look at him and saw that he'd already pulled out another cigarette and had lit it, leaning back against the alley wall to take a deep inhale closing his eyes before opening them to peak at her.

"I've already given it to you." He smiled flicking the small white cylinder in his fingers letting the ash drift away in the wind.

"What?" She wrinkled her nose at the smell that drifted from his smoke.

"Think about everything we talked about inside Hermione, you'll find something in there. I promise." He smiled taking another drag before beginning to walk away from her but she followed, a slight anger building up.

"You said you would give me a hint to leave on." She demanded tailing him as he walked down the sidewalk.

"And I did, I gave you many hints tonight. However, it's not up to me to tell you how to read them or how to put them together. Unfortunately, that's the rather rough side of our game. You'll have to find what I give when I give it." She jumped slightly when he came up next to her, putting his arm around her shoulders nodding at two rather burly men who were walking past, their eyes eating Hermione up and down. "How's about I walk you home though, a girl like you doesn't need to be out walking alone this late."

"I'm more than capable of taking care of myself-"

"Those two men are following you, please. Allow me to take you home." His voice was low and demanding but it lightened quickly, changing subjects. "Now, like I said. I've given you more information than I should have, a smart woman like you ought to be able to figure it out in no time."

She moved into his arm but glanced back either way and saw indeed that the two men had stopped and were leaning against a car on the side of the road, one watching them walk and the other facing away from her as if talking to the guy facing them. She turned back and leaned closer into his arm, how had he known so quickly those two men were going to follow her?

"That hardly seems fair, smart or not this sounds like more of a puzzle than a guessing game." She wanted to turn back around to look but knew better, she'd been trained better. She felt her hand glide casually to her purse to place her hand inside, grasping the extending dagger she'd placed in there before she left.

Tom laughed but kept quiet as they moved along, walking quickly and making sudden sharp turns heading back towards the institute. She knew that while she was very much capable of handling herself she was grateful Tom was here because being able to fight didn't always guarantee a win, especially with two men that looked like them. She could see the spiral of the institute's bell and felt a sigh of relief but Tom still had a firm arm wrapped around her shoulder.

"Will you be able to handle them by yourself?" She felt rather stupid asking that question but she didn't quite feel right leaving someone alone with two guys that looked like they ate people like Tom for breakfast.

"Oh, I'll handle myself. However, it would be smart to let your head of institute know that you were followed and be sure to give a good description, it'll help." He stopped about a block from the church and stared up at it and turned back to Hermione to give her a charismatic smile that made her heart beat quicken. "We'll be in close contact of course, I have every intention of continuing what I started."

Hermione glanced around and didn't see the guys and let her hand fall away from her purse and found herself reaching up to pull softly at her hair, unsure of what she was supposed to say or do. She'd never really been on a date before and didn't really know what was supposed to be done after one. Though he'd seen enough movies and read enough books to know that the man was supposed to kiss her, the thought of kissing Tom Riddle was ridiculous, she would never kiss a boy she'd only known for a day and while she rather liked this man if he thought he was going to kiss her, he had another thing coming.

"So there's no more hints then?" She looked down at her feet and squished the tip of her shoe into the grimy pavement.

"Goodnight, Miss Granger. I have no doubts I'll be hearing from you soon. Remember our contract." He laughed aloud at her comment but grabbed her hand, kissing it quickly before she could react and walking away leaving her to stand there with her face burning like a moron.


End file.
